...one of the most well-established but under-discussed religio-political facts of life in America: white evangelical Protestants (particularly younger ones) are consistently, and by sizable margins, more likely to favor abortion restrictions than Catholics...
...A September 2007 Pew survey showed white evangelical Protestants agreeing that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases by a 65-31 margin; Catholics favored keeping abortion legal in all or most cases by a 51-44 margin (with no appreciable difference between Hispanic and non-Hispanic Catholics). On a related issue that helps measure the intensity of anti-abortion views, the same poll showed white evangelicals opposing embryonic stem cell research by 57-31, while white non-Hispanic Catholics favored it by 59-32.
I don’t believe those statistics are true. We were Protestants/ Evangelical/ non-denom for 20 years; converts to Catholicism in 2005. I NEVER heard any preaching against abortion, never heard ONE church/ pastor take a stand from the pulpit against abortion, until I became Catholic.
We were at a work party recently — mostly seminary students, 95% of folks were Christians. MANY of them were for Obama.
I thot it had to do with white guilt, personally. Just my take. We had to leave the party early ....
While they infuriate me to no end, when I calm down, I feel so sorry for people like this author, a person who obviously believes that the Bible is only taken seriously by a bunch of backward kooks. A person who is so certain that their “enlightened” state of existence is so obviously the most appropriate path through life. A person who, unless they become enlightened by the one true light, is going to close their eyes in death, and open their new eyes to unimaginable torment that will simply never end. Ever. Such a tragedy, and one so very easily preventable.
MM
Between devout catholics and devout evangelicals you'll probably find they are equally opposed to abortion. Then compare mainline moderate protestants to secular catholics. Same-same.
In general terms, catholic or non-catholic, the more devout tend to be the more principled morally. The christian-in-name-only, catholic and non-catholic alike, tend to be less principled morally. The political divide does not precisely follow along that fault line but over time you can follow currents that flow from it. Over time, political philosophy flows out of your religious convictions if you have any. The absence of it also marks your political philosophy.
I certainly hope the Obamanation picks Kaine, my alterego on the DUmmies board will go full-scale in getting the moonbats to vote for Nader on principle!
The writer’s broader point, if Obama shifts to the “center” on abortion, does have some validity.
The main divide between Dem and GOP historically is the old Rousseau-John Locke divide, centralized power versus decentralized power. If that is the only issue, it would be natural to find Christians on either side of that line. Outside the US, there is no equivalent to the GOP or John Lockean classic liberalism among political parties. The Christian Democrats of Europe and Latin America are what passes for conservatives there, but they are politically socialists, when it comes right down to it. Pro-church, pro-business, but socialists.
If the DNC is bleeding Christians, it is a self-inflicted wound. By insisting that Democrats be not merely tolerant of the immoral, but instead requiring that everyone actively celebrate degeneracy, they drive out the more devout who might have been happy to remain Democrats given the choice.
A minor correction, from celebrating degeneracy, back toward a quiet tolerance, would allow big-government Christians to remain within the party. We classic liberal small government Christians would still be out here on the Repub side, trying to get our party leaders to pay attention. But for the DNC to stop promoting degeneracy as a policy would be a win for all of us even if it is a temporary hit for Repubs.
The other group that the DNC loses unnecessarily are the national-security hawks among them. They have been steadily driving out anyone who cares about national security, and these folks have had no where to go except over to the Repubs. A photo of Obama publicly embracing Petraeus would have cinched this thing for the Democrats. But they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it.
I’d argue that those are apples and oranges numbers. Comparing “all Catholics” to “all Protestants” would be more reasonable, as would be comparing “evangelical Protestants” to “Catholics who are weekly Mass attendees”.